Tuesday, May 3, 2011

I run kid’s art classes at the EJ Ward
Community Centre, 189 Underwood Street, Paddington. Classes are held Tuesdays
4:15-5:30pm and Saturdays 9:30-10:45am and are for children aged 4-12 years.

I
started working for Kirsty Shadiac, the founder of the kids art classes last
year under the name “Kirsty’s Kids Art” teaching the Sydney branch for her
(Kirsty is based in Adelaide), due to Kirsty’s ever increasing commitments the
opportunity came up for me to take over the running of the Sydney Classes and I
jumped at the offer...hence the name change to Jen’s kids Art.

I have also started running art themed Birthday Parties either
at the centre or in individual homes, so much fun!

Art Class

What are the five
words that people who know you would use to describe your business?

Creative, encouraging, colourful, fun & expressive

What was the purpose on starting Jen’s Kid Art and how has the
concept come about?

As I mentioned Kirsty started the business 3 years ago as she had such a
love of children and art. I have always had a great rapport with children and
had done many art activities with my own nieces and nephews over the years and
had been approached to teach through my other business IMOK. So when the opportunity
came up to start teaching on a permanent basis I was so excited and just knew
that I was destined to do this. My concept is encouraging children to be
creative as it helps them to relax and enhances their confidence.

Art Studio

Tell us more about
your Art Class and the Art themed birthday Parties?

My classes are held in a wonderful
light filled room in Paddington. I teach a maximum of 14 students per class to
ensure they get the attention they need. When students arrive they know the
first thing they need to do is choose a smock to wear and then gather around my
table....for the first 15 minutes I do a demonstration of what we are doing for
the class – it is always a different topic or theme and using different
materials. Here students get to watch what I am doing, ask questions and
suggest what colours I should use. They love this part and helps them relax and
come up with ideas for their own artworks, by the time my demo is over they are
busting to run to the table and get started.

Students are encouraged to take
inspiration from, but not copy my work, the ideas they come up with never fail
to amaze and inspire me each week.

My art themed parties are held similar
to a class but tailored to suit the birthday girl or boys favourite things to
paint or draw. The last few parties I have done have involved creating a
penguin pencil case followed by a birthday themed artwork for all of the kids
to take home. Lots of fun

Art themed Birthday Party

Tell us about
your process for working with children’s’ Art Classes?

Each week I come up with a new topic
that either compliments or contrasts previous week topics. I usually will
sketch up a few ideas in my sketch book at home and finalise it on the day. I
also talk to my kids each week and find out what things they are really
interested in learning, for example they were really into origami and paper
crafts so I did a few lessons on that. Then Manga followed and how to draw
different kinds of eyes.

What do kids
learned about attending your workshop?

Kids learn to express themselves through
art & creativity. They learn about colour, shapes, famous & not so
famous artists and they get the chance to explore different mediums such as oil
pastels, chalk pastels, watercolour, acrylic paints, textas, pencils and more.
I also encourage them to not be afraid to make mistakes and try new things with
art. I have had quite a few students for many terms and it is so amazing to see
the progression and the personal style they are creating. Just makes me so
happy to see them so proud of their work.

What advice
can you offer to parents who are looking for Art Classes & Art themed
birthday party?

If your child has a love of art then
it should definitely be encouraged. I usually ask parents if their child is
content to sit at home for an hour and draw or paint etc, if the answer is yes
then they are perfect for my class. As my classes are after school and weekends
the child needs to have a genuine love and interest in art, just like I do. As
children tend to learn set topics at school I try and do different topics that
wouldn’t necessarily be taught in school – Manga, Comic Book and Character
Design for example and then get feedback from my students. We really have so
much fun!

Art themed parties are definitely for
parents who are looking for something different from the norm, many parents
come to me because there is only so many times you can do a Fairy party. The
party is run like a class where each party guest gets to make a craft item and
paint a picture to take home. This really keeps the kids engaged and really
brings about confidence when they see what they have created. I treat each
Birthday Party separatly and usually find out what is the child’s favourite
medium – drawing, painting, craft and take it from there.